I guess I was an early adopter of collected editions, as I got into collected editions very early in the game, the first collected edition I ever owned...



this was the second...



and my attitude early on was if one comic to read is good, how much better is a big ole book of comics to read.

but I had been used to comics in book form even earlier, as my folks had paperbacks like this colecting newspaper strips around the house...





that I would read all the time.

When I was in jr. high, a friend had a bunch of the Pocket Books Marvel series like this one...



and that was how I first read all the early FF, SPidey and Hulk issues.

In the 80s when Warner Books started collecting DC Comics with Dark Knight...



I snapped it up and sold off my first printings of the original which were in high demand and fetching decent money, which I then used to buy other comics to read.


I also picked up the Watchmen hardcover from the Science Fiction Book Club in late 80s/early 90s before DC ever released it in trade format themselves...



and did the same with V for Vendetta because SFBC offered a package deal on the 2 of them...


I also started on Elfquest in the big book market trades from Starblaze at that time too...



In high school, I also discovered books like this...



in my local public high school.

When Marvel launched the Masterworks line, I bought what I could afford at the time (they were numbering the volumes as they released them, not by title, so Vol. 1 was Spider-Man and Vol. 2 Fantastic Four I believe) and had Volumes 1-10 before money got short at university and tapped out. I picked up the first Superman Archives volume as well when it was released.

So for me, I have always read comics in collected editions as well as individual issues, and it was just a matter of what I had available as to what format I read it in. The format never affected my enjoyment of the book stories themselves, the important thing was getting to read the stories. The idea of collecting back issues entered into my comic habit much later than collected editions. I didn't know such a thing existed until I stumbled upon a comic con taking place at my local mall in 1980 a couple years after I had gotten Son of Origins and some of the Tempo books, and I didn't discover my first comic shop until 1984 as a freshman in high school, so collected editions were ingrained into my comic reading habits long before the idea of going and getting the original issues you missed was even introduced to me. It just seems like a natural way of getting to read stuff that had come out long before I would have been able to buy it on the stands or stuff that I missed when it did come out, and I wished then that I lived in a world like today where just about every comic that comes out gets collected and I can get them whenever I wanted. The age of trade paperbacks is like a childhood dream come true for me.

-M

Interesting posts!

My first Dark Knight Returns trade was from the SFBC, and while I sold them off long ago, I picked up a number of Gaiman's Sandman hardcovers through them as well. I joined and cancelled quite a few times to get the 6 for the price of 1 deal during the late 1990s to pick up a number of trade paperbacks and hardcovers.

My experience with collected editions is similar to mrp. I bought many of the same books especially the Tempo (DC) & Pocket (Marvel) Books. I also had all the DC volumes from the 40's to the 70's.

Later on I sold most of collection of single issues (for several reasons). I then started to rebuild my collection with a mix of back issues & collections. I have a bookshelf in my bedroom filled with DC Archives & Showcase Presents plus Marvel Masterworks & Essentials. If I have the collections of stories I love I usually give the single issues to my youngest daughter or my one nephew. There are a few series I still kept as back issues.

Also collections are easier to put on my Christmas list for my family & friends to buy.

If you Google, it's there

The Masterworks site that I linked you to the other day also has a section that lists the various Omnibus volumes (and other OHC)... 

Marvel Hardcovers